Sunday, 25 June 2017

Last Orders By Graham Swift

"When you've been thinking about the dead you notice how the living hurry"

This is one of those very rare occasions where I enjoyed the movie a hell of a lot more than the book. I'm probably doing the book a disservice, to be honest, because I don't think the tale of a group of friends carry their mate's ashes around is the most uplifting material to read when you are in a bit of a funk.

Last Orders brings a lot of voices to the party, as all the players in Jack Dodds' life reflect on his life, and their own. All the secrets and dramas of life and long term friendships are eventually laid bare while they go about their journey to the seaside with a quick side trip to see a hard to find war memorial up a rather large hill.

Perhaps the work of Helen Mirren ( I do so love her) et al in the film version coloured my appreciation of the source novel. I found it difficult to reconcile the two versions at any rate.

Perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for a book that discusses the minutiae of life - love, war, motorcars, butcher shops, abortions, and trips to Margate, at a time when I prefer my reading to be slightly more escapist in subject matter.